About a month ago, Betty and I received an invitation to
attend a very special event, the 50th Anniversary of the
Underwater Adventure Seekers (UAS) Dive Club. The UAS is one
of the oldest dive clubs in the world and was founded by our
DAN Board member, Dr. Jose Jones. The Underwater Adventure
Seekers, a Washington D.C. based dive club, was founded on
February 25, 1959 by Dr. Jones after finding existing scuba
diving clubs in the area were reluctant to admit and train
black divers.

The first club training consisted of, as it does now, pool
and quarry training followed by numerous recreational
openwater dives. The Howard University pool served as the
site for the first training. Armed with the latest scuba
equipment from U.S. Navy diver Chet Longworthy, Dr. Jones
was able to develop a successful watermanship-based training
regimen which followed the basic philosophy that "good
swimmers make good divers".

In the late 1950's, none of the current major US diver
training organizations existed. Consequently, Dr. Jones
chose the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) System formed the
basis for UAS members training. When combined with the good
watermanship skills, the result was very well-trained and
safety-conscious divers.

During the 1960’s, dive clubs all across the US were divided
into Councils. The Atlantic Skin Diving Council (ASDC) of
Washington D.C., responsible for monitoring scuba diving
activity in the area, accepted UAS as a member organization.
This association was mutually beneficial to both the Council
and UAS. The Council learned quickly that all UAS members
were well-trained and avid scuba divers. As a result of Dr.
Jones' critical position in key Council offices such as vice
president, spear fishing chairman, rodeo chairman, and chief
training officer and certifier, UAS and its members were
able to gain recognition in Council diving events and
demonstrate their valuable contributions to the sport. As a
result of UAS members being involved in setting policy for
the Council, they were able to change more than just the
feeling regarding black scuba divers. Their participation in
events such as the scuba rodeo competition is well
documented with UAS member placing first in the competition
for five consecutive years during the late sixties and
seventies.

UAS members have in the past and continue today to benefit
from the knowledge and experiences of UAS founder, Dr.
Jones. The UAS progressive diver training system of training
developed in the late 1950’s is still the basis for their
training today. The club requires a standard of excellence
in diving from its member divers above those of any other
national or international certifying organization. With a
strong emphasis on maintaining critical diving skills, the
UAS still requires that its members recertify each year.
This yearly recertification process is better known in the
club as "Spring Training," and it assures that all members
are both mentally and physically capable of performing the
myriad of skills necessary for safe openwater diving.
Understanding the importance of good swimming skills to safe
scuba diving, the UAS has a "Swim and Stay Fit" program
preceding the annual Spring Training Refresher sessions.

Beginning in 1967, the UAS sponsored and organized annual
summer trips providing diving opportunities aimed at
broadening the diving experiences of the members. Those
trips have included Indonesia, Morocco, the Bahamas, The
Caribbean, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Australia, Egypt,
Thailand, Mexico, South America, Panama and Belize.
Individual club members also dive throughout the world.

The public service record of UAS is also laudable. It
includes: service as rescue divers for the President's Cup
Regatta, free scuba demonstrations at public events, on-call
search and recovery diver operation, and the training and
certification of over 2000 divers without compensation. The
club also has an annual crab feast from which profits go
toward a college scholarship at the University of the
District of Columbia in Marine Science.

During its 30th Anniversary in 1989, UAS was honored by
District of Columbia Representative, Walter Fauntroy, in a
Congressional Record tribute in recognition of services to
the public. The District of Columbia's Mayor, Marion Barry,
declared February 25, 1989 "Underwater Adventure Seekers
Day" in Washington, D.C. Finally, the D.C. City Council
adopted a resolution acknowledging the contributions of UAS.

In 1988-89 both Ebony and Ebony Man carried articles on the
Underwater Adventure Seekers followed by an article in
Underwater USA. Encouraged by phone calls from all over the
United States, Dr. Jones, UAS founder, approached the club
about his life-long dream of organizing black divers
nationally. After more than six months of meetings, black
divers from all over the United States were invited to
Washington, D.C. on Martin Luther King's birthday, 1991 to
attend the first annual National Association of Black Scuba
Divers (NABS) summit.

The Underwater Adventure Seekers became the founding club of
NABS. Attendees were asked to return home and start their
own clubs. To date there are over fifty NABS clubs located
all across the United States and in Nassau, Belize, Brazil,
Turks and Caicos, Dominica, St. Thomas, Curaçao and the
Maldives Islands.

Currently, UAS has a membership of more than 100 active
certified divers. This club has trained more black divers
than any other scuba diving organization in the world. The
longevity of the Underwater Adventure Seekers can be
attributed to a unique combination of regular social
activities coupled with a strong and shared commitment to
safe diving through regular diving and continuing education.
(the above excerpts from www.uasdivers.org)

On Friday, Betty and I drove the 4 ½ hours to Washington, DC
in order to attend the UAS regular awards ceremony at the
Renaissance M Hotel. This event is an opportunity for the
club to recognize members who have excelled in many of the
Club’s competitive categories including spearfishing,
swimming for fitness and number of dives in a year. The list
of accomplishments of their members was, indeed, impressive.
The award for their physical fitness program through
demonstrating swimming ability through lap swimming went to
a club member who swam over 3,000 laps in an Olympic size
pool! The winner in the most active club diver went to a
member who made 116 dives in the past twelve months! While
watching the awards and talking to members, it became clear
that this club is made up of divers who not only talk diving
but live it to its fullest. This is like no club I’ve ever
seen. Most dive clubs have a hard time getting a few members
together on a monthly basis to talk about diving. The UAS
members got together a few years ago and decided that
monthly meetings did not give their 100 ACTIVE diver members
the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to the club
they loved but also did not give them an opportunity to
learn as much as they wanted to so they could continue to be
better divers. Plus, they just all thoroughly enjoyed each
other’s company.

Every dive club could learn and benefit from their model.
Also, that evening, one of the members approached Betty and
me about a rather unique insurance question. He was leaving
for Macao the next day to spend two years working for a
production company similar to Cirque Soleil. They were
putting together a theatrical production similar to “O”
(seen in Las Vegas) and wanted some insurance advice for the
crew as well as the performers both of which would be using
scuba as part of the show. Betty was able to answer his
questions and he would be keeping in contact with us as the
show develops.

On Saturday evening, September 19, the UAS held its 50th
Anniversary celebration in the Grand Ballroom at the
Washington Navy Yard. This was a fantastic black tie event
with more than 200 club members, NABS representatives and
guest in attendance. The event organizing committee had
asked me to give a tribute to Dr. Jones as part of the
evening program. I was honored to accept and chose to create
a Power Point presentation showing how important the club’s
diving philosophy was to the safety of its members. I also
inserted some photos taken of Dr. Jones during the recent
Legends of Diving Program in the Bahamas where I was Master
of Ceremonies. They included photos of Dr. Jones wearing a
DAN Du Rag and one of Dr. Jones and me diving together. That
particular photo was of Dr. Jones and I doing our safety
stop at neutral buoyancy. I noticed Dr. Jones in the Lotus
position and tried to do the same. As I tried to get my
limbs in the same position, it became painfully clear that I
was not nearly as limber as Dr. Jones. I finally gave up
before I did serious physical and emotional damage to
myself! My presentation ended by recognizing the UAS’ Golden
Anniversary, thanking them for their contributions to diving
safety and wishing them 50 more years of enjoyable and safe
diving. I was presented with a 50th Anniversary medallion
and UAS 50th Anniversary challenge coin.

My presentation was very well received and many members
thanking DAN for everything that we have done for the UAS
and for diving safety and education. Every member of the UAS
is required to be a DAN member!!

Besides the tribute from DAN, James Morgan (PADI Vide
President and NABS member) presented Dr. Jones and the UAS
with a plaque recognizing their contribution to diver
education and safety. There was also a tribute from a local
television personality who had interviewed Dr. Jones as part
of Black History Month. She commented that of all the
interviews she had done as a seasoned reporter, her
interview with Dr. Jones was one of the most moving. She
highlighted Dr. Jones’ commitment to bringing the sport of
scuba diving to others by training and certifying more than
2,000 divers free of charge! As a further tribute to Dr.
Jones who she referred to in her interview as the “Black
Jacques Cousteau”, she included a recorded tribute to Dr.
Jones from Philippe Cousteau, Grandson of Jacques Cousteau.

The evening program was an exciting mix of history,
entertainment and tributes to both the Club and its founder,
Dr. Jones. We were happy and honored to represent DAN at
this historic event. It is an emotional feeling being
surrounded by so many DAN members who, to a person, share a
unique and passionate commitment to scuba diving, their club
and to DAN! It truly was an unforgettable experience.